At any given moment, public opinion is a chaos of superstition, misinformation, and prejudice.

In America, the race goes to the loud, the solemn, the hustler. If you think you're a great writer, you must say that you are.

Don't ever make the mistake with people like me thinking we are looking for heroes. There aren't any and if there were, they would be killed immediately. I'm never surprised by bad behaviour. I expect it.

Always a godfather, never a god.

I suppose my liking for Italy is partly atavism, my family are of the old Roman stock. They came from the Alps north of Venice.

A talent for drama is not a talent for writing, but is ability to articulate human relationships.

If satire is to be effective, the audience must be aware of the thing satirized.